Reditus Laboratories said cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus are on the rise in Bloomington-Normal and Peoria as they are in many states and regions.
Pekin-based Reditus said Wednesday it's sequencing check of random samples from June 4 to July 7 found 64 additional cases of the variant — 18 from Bloomington-Normal and Peoria. According to CEO Dr. Aaron Rossi, Reditus also found two cases of the variant earlier in June.
The Delta samples are 18% of the total in the batch tested for mutations; 29% of the samples were the Brazilian variant and 42% were the U.K variant with smaller numbers of other variants, said Rossi.
The Delta variant is believed to be more transmissible than previous strains of the virus.
Rossi said his goal in sharing sequencing information from time to time is simply to keep the public aware of the spread of variants.
The increase in Delta variant cases corresponds to increases in overall positive COVID-19 tests in recent weeks in McLean County.
